Data communication networks serve user communication devices with user data services like internet access, media conferencing, machine communications, social networking, and the like. To extend the range and mobility of these user data services, the data communication networks deploy wireless access networks. The wireless access networks have wireless access points that communicate over the air with wireless user devices. The wireless access points also communicate over data links with access gateways. A single access gateway usually serves multiple wireless access points.
The wireless access networks also have network gateways that communicate with external data systems like the Internet, media servers, enterprise systems, and the like. The network gateways and the access gateways communicate with one another to complete the data path between the wireless user devices and the external data systems. An exemplary data path traverses in order: the wireless user device, wireless access point, access gateway, network gateway, and external data system.
Wireless access networks are geographically separated into Tracking Areas (TAs). The wireless access points each broadcast a TA code for the TA that includes their geographic location. The wireless user devices notify mobility controllers in the wireless access networks when they cross TA boundaries. As the wireless user devices move about, the wireless access points handover wireless the devices among one another.
Eventually, the access gateways that serve the wireless access points also handover some of the wireless user devices among one another. The mobility controller directs these access gateway handovers—typically during a TA Update (TAU) process. After the access gateway handovers, the wireless user devices still communicate through their old network gateways. The use of new access gateways and old network gateways often becomes inefficient. The wireless user devices can reattach in their new TAs to obtain new network gateways to align with their new access gateways. Unfortunately, the technology to drive wireless device reattachments in these inefficient gateway scenarios is not adequate.